What are Friends for
by Chiashia
Summary: It was a normal day for Phoenix, but today was a very special day, a day he will never forget.


What Are Friends For

CLICK

After getting beat up for an hour the man walks over to me and points the gun up

to my face, "Goodbye," he says.

DING, DING, DING

"Alright class, get into groups of two please" said the psychology teacher. While everybody was forming into their little groups of two, I was sitting in my chair faced down. _Great,_ I thought _what a perfect way to start the day_. I didn't really know anybody in the class to want to be paired up with, so I just sat looking at my half broken necklace waiting for class to end. Then there was a tap on my shoulder, I turned around and saw that it was Lyte Angelson. She stood there smiling and looking at me.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Hey Phoenix, do you want to be my partner?" she asked in a soft voice.

"Ummm…." Was all I could say.

"OK looks like everybody has a partner, now let's start the test" said the teacher interrupting me. _Ok, whatever I guess I'll work with Lyte_. The teacher gave each of us a sheet, every sheet was different for each person, but there was no specific order. The sheets were questions we were supposed to ask the other person.

"You can go first" Lyte said after three minutes of awkward silence.

"Oh! Ok I guess." I said. "Question 1: what is your greatest fear?"

"Being alone." She answered.

"Question 2: what would you do if you had one day left to… live?"

"I would…. lets see" she thought about that question for five minutes "ok got it, I would do all the things I would ever dream to do such as, go sailing, eat as much I can, go and buy all the things I want, go to an anime convention, and so on."

"Ok, final question, what makes you tick?"

"Easy, annoying people." She replied quickly, "Ok you turn, question 1, what kind of childhood do you have?"

"Childhood huh…. Let's see, I cant really remember my child hood, other then when my mother died and I was raised by my blind dad."

"Oh! I didn't know, I'm so sorry"

"It's a long time ago. Next question" I said changing the topic. After the class was over I went to my next class Algebra. When I entered the class I saw that Lyte was also in there, but now that I think about it, she's in all my classes. In algebra, I invited three people in the class to a "party", and they agreed to come. When Lyte heard about it she asked if she could go too, but I refused to let her go. After that class I went to Biology class. Again I invited people to the "party", but only one other person. Lyte saw that and asked again, and again I said no. Then it was lunch time. That day I got into a mess that I never got into before.

I went to get my lunch as usual, and sat down by myself as usual, but then Lyte came and sat next to me.

"Hey Phoenix, why can't I come to your party?" she asked.

"You're not invited" was all I could say, but made me feel guilty as I said it. She kept asking me questions after questions and I would answer them, until she asked about my life style. I kept quite not wanting to answer it.

Then all of a sudden something grabbed me from behind my head and my face was smashed onto the table. My nose was bleeding out blood like a waterfall. The pain shocked me which made it worse. I quickly held my nose to stop the blood from coming out and I turned around to see who it was it was Markus Bigg; Markus was the school student president and his parents were the kind of people who would "donate" money to the school for "special" privileges for Markus.

"What you doing talking to my girl" he said in a rough angry voice. He lifted me up by the collar of my shirt up close to his face, his breath smelled like what you would get if you mixed a skunk with a pile of left over garbage and dead animals.

Lyte grabbed Markus by his arm, "Let him go Markus" she said looking at him square in the eyes, "He didn't do anything at all, I was just asking him questions"

Markus looked at me then Lyte then me again. He finally let me go, but threw me on the floor. I slid across the floor until I was stopped by crashing into a garbage can. Lyte came running up to me and helped me stand up.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"See what you did" I said to her. I yanked my hand out of her arm.

"I'm sorry; I didn't think that Markus would do that." She replied back holding off her tears.

"Whatever" I said when I saw her eyes. I started to head to the restroom, but Lyte took hold of my arm and dragged me to the nurse's office.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I said angrily.

"Taking you to the nurse's office" she replied. _Whatever_ I thought. When we arrived at the room, there was no nurse. My school, Hope High school, didn't have a nurse because the school couldn't afford one. The students were allowed to enter the office, but only if someone was sick or injured. Lyte went through the drawers and found some bandages, aspirin, and some other medical stuff.

"What are all those for?" I asked with my eyes wide open after I saw that she found a needle. The needle wasn't supposed to be in there so some other student must've. "I don't need all those things; I just have a nose bleed." I grabbed some tissue and stuffed it in my nose, "see, that's all I need." I turned around quickly and headed out for the door. When I got out the door, I ran into someone. I bumped into him and I fell down. "Oww, watch where you're going will ya." I looked up and saw that it was Markus. _Oh crap_, I thought.

"You with my girl again!" he growled. He lunged for me, but this time I saw him coming at me so I slid sideways and tripped him. He fell down and made a loud noise when he hit the ground. "Why you little" he growled again. He stood back up and came charging at me. By now I was on my feet and looking around, I saw no one and noticed that there were no cameras around too.

"Ok, this time I'll get you" I grinned. "Apparently, you don't know who you're messing with." When Markus was about an arm length away, I ducked to dodge his punch and punched him in the guts. He let out a loud gasp then turns at me with angry red demonic eyes.

"Rahh" he screamed as he was charging at me again.

"You never learn do you" this time I was planning on kicking him, but then all of a sudden I was grabbed from behind by one of Markus's friend. I turned trying to get loose, then BAM; I got socked right in the face.

"Ha-ha, not so tough now are you." He threw punches after punches on my face and stomach. The pain spread through my entire body which made me felt like a punching bag being beaten until it would burst open. Markus stopped punching and went over to grab something from his bag. It was a knife.

"Whoa, Markus don't you think your going a little but to far there" said Markus's friend.

"Shut up and hold him still, I just want Phoenix here to know not to mess with my girl again" he chuckled. He inched the knife closer to my chest. He looked up at me and saw that there was no fear in my eyes. "Aren't you scared of this" he said waving the knife.

"Me scare of you, not in a million years" I told him. He growled again in anger and tried to stab me, but I kicked the knife out of his hand. The knife landed about three feet away from me. I used my leg and tripped Markus's friend backwards. I squashed him and stood up quickly to take the knife, but Markus already picked it up and the knife was coming at me. Then there was a flash of white and blood on the floor. I saw Lyte there in front of me with the knife in her arm.

"No!" I yelled. I ran up to Markus and punched him in the face sending him flying across the hall. Then I quickly turned around to Lyte. "Why did you do that?" I asked her. I looked at the knife carefully and examined to see if it struck a bone.

"Because you were in danger." She replied.

"Why me? You don't even know me."

"Well, I've known since we were little kids, but I guess you never noticed me, after all you always stayed behind the class trying to be invisible. And besides, what are friends for" she said laughing.

"Ok, doesn't talk anymore or it'll hurt even more. I'm going to pull the knife out ok, on the count of three. One. Two." I pulled the knife out as quickly as I could.

"Ahhh." She screamed in pain, biting on to her bag, "I thought you said three."

"Well, its better not knowing than knowing." I told her to stay put while I go grab some bandages. I searched through the drawers and found bandages, some pain killers, and some other stuff. I ran back to Lyte with the supplies I had found.

"Do you know what your doing?" she asked me.

"Yeah, my dad taught me how to patch a knife wound and gunshot wound." Was what I told her, with out realizing that I said a bit too much about myself.

"Wait did you say gunshot wounds?"

"Uhh, don't worry about what I said."

"Ok."

When the teachers found out what happened, they called the sheriff, Markus's parents, Lyte's parents, and my dad. We were all inside the principles tiny little room. There were ten of us totaled.

"Ok, so your telling me that at lunch that Mr. Phoenix here was talking to Lyte, and you Mr. Markus slammed his head to the table when you saw that?" said the sheriff.

"No, Phoenix was hitting on my girl, and I just did what anybody would do if the saw their girlfriend was being hit on by this loser." Markus replied angrily.

"Now wait a minute" said Lyte, "who said I was your girl?"

"Well, I did" Markus said with pride.

"First of all, I never even went out with you, and second of all, I don't even like you. Just because we worked together on one assignment doesn't mean I'm going out with you."

"Ok, that's enough." Lyte stares a Markus with disgust and anger. "The next thing that happened was that you; Lyte, you took Phoenix to the nurse's office and helped him with his bloody nose, but then again Markus follow you there and then the incident happened."

"Yes he did, but I di..." Lyte said.

"Ok, the only reason I followed was because Phoenix went with her" Markus interrupted.

"Be quiet Markus" the sheriff said, "please continue Ms. Lyte."

"As I was saying, I didn't know that Markus was following us. After all, all I did was help Phoenix with his bloody nose."

"Ok, good" the sheriff said while taking some notes. "After that then, Markus was waiting for Phoenix out side then jumped him and Markus's friend held Phoenix down so he could lay some punches on him. Then after that Markus tries to stab Phoenix and Lyte jumps in the way and gets stabbed instead. Ok I think I got the whole story now."

After an hour of talking, Lyte and I go a restraining against to Markus: a distance of 100 yards, since we were in a small town we didn't have to go through a trail or anything like that. He wasn't allowed to be thirty feet from us. I was ok with that, but Markus wasn't, because he couldn't be near his "girlfriend"

When things got back in order, the school had already released every student in the school and back at home my dad was really upset about what happened, but didn't ground me since I was only acting in self defense, but he still allowed me to go to the party, but he said that I wasn't going to be able to make it. So instead I headed to my favorite spot in the whole town, a hill that over looked the town to one side, and the lake to the other. The view there was just magnificent. When you look at the town, you can see the school, church, the sheriff's station, and even my house along with other student's house. Beyond the horizon, you could see the set as though it was hiding behind the mountain. Then to the lake side, when you get there early you can see the sun rise. As the sun rises you can see that the reflection of the sun on the water. It looked like a box being opened, and the light inside is pouring out. _And speaking of light, I should go thank Lyte_ I thought to myself.

As I was walking down the hill, I heard a noise behind me. I kept on walking as though I didn't notice. When I got to the foot of the hill the thing in the bushes jumped at me. I quickly turned to evade from getting pounced on. I saw that it was the twins Lila and Zach. I have known them since my mother passed away; they were my aunt's kids, my cousins.

"Awwwwww man, we can never get you" said Lila.

"Yeah I know" Zach said disappointedly.

"Hehe, you guys can't catch me if you guys are that noisy." I told them. "Well any ways I got to go."

"Yeah, we'll see you at the party" both the twins said in a sync.

"OK"

"Well, we'll see you at the party then" said Lila, and they both went storming away.

"Ok, I got to go thank someone. See you two later." I yelled after them. I then continued walking down the road until I came to Lyte's house. Her house was huge. It was like looking at a mansion, but only smaller. I went up the door and rung the bell.

DING-DONG

Fives seconds passed and the door opens. It was Lyte that opened the door. She was wearing a black and red dress. "Oh, hi Phoenix. What are you doing here?" she asked

"Oh…. Well I guess I came over to apologize and thank you" I said hiding my face from embarrassment because that was the first time I've ever been to anyone's house unannounced. "So thanks for helping me back there, and I'm so sorry about what happened to your arm." Looking down guiltily.

"Oh, don't worry about that, I was kinda hoping you would come to apologize" she said nervously looking at the ground also. We both stood there awkwardly for five full minutes. "Oh, I know why don't you invite me to your party and I will forgive you"

"What! All that happened and you still want to go to the party." I said surprised.

"Well yeah, why do you think I dressed up" she spins around.

"Um, hate to burst your bubble, but I'm not supposed to invite strangers."

"What, but you do know me, don't you remember, I was your best friend when we were little kids."

"Really? I don't remember anybody named Lyte when I was younger."

"Well, do you remember when we were little, and we would go explore the caves by the lakes, and we would get lost. I would end up crying and you helped cheer me up by making all those funny faces."

"Ummm… nope"

"How about that the day I left town, that day the town was celebrating the moon festival. We were going around town together doing the treasure hunt and we won. We both won these necklaces," she pulls out her necklace and shows it to me. "There was only one, but we broke it in half, one for me and one for you." I reached for my necklace, and took it out. "See, they fit perfectly together." She grabs her piece and mine, and puts them together. When they were connected, the necklace looked like a full moon.

Then it hit me, all my memories came flushing right back to me. "Lyte, I remember now. There was the festival and the fireworks and all the people," I was smiling no, gaining back my memories of my childhood, then came close to tears after remembering why I had forgotten all those things.

"What's wrong?" Lyte asked clueless.

"I also remember why I forgot those memories, I forgot because I didn't want to remember how my mom died." Now I was in tears.

"Phoenix… doesn't cry please." She said teary eyed. "I'm so sorry for bringing back bad memories."

I wiped my tears, "No, you don't have to apologize. It's not your fault; it's my own fault, for trying to forget something that important in my life. I guess I could tell you how my mom died."

"No, you don't have too."

"I know, but my mom would want you to know. My mom died the day after you left. I was in my room still asleep, when I was awoken to a loud noise. I ran down the stairs as fast as I could. I heard my dad yelling 'What's that noise Phoenix'. I went into the kitchen where the noise came from. There I saw, my mom lying on the floor, blood around the her body blood everywhere." Lyte's face was turning pale as I kept telling her the story. "By the time the police arrived, it was already too late to for them to do anything."

"I'm so sorry," Lyte said with tears rolling down her cheeks. "I didn't know."

"Don't worry about it, what can't be helped, can't be helped. This all happened ten years ago." Lyte was still in tears. "How about this, I'll invite you to the party so will you please stop crying."

Then there was a sudden shock to my back and I fainted after that. When I woke up, my vision was a blur. I tried getting off, but I was tied to a chair After my vision came back I looked around, I saw a closed door and saw Lyte tied down to a chair in front of me.

"Lyte, Lyte," I whispered quietly, " LYTE" I ended up yelling to wake her up.

"Huh" she looked around confused, "Where am I?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"Lyte, look at me. What Happened?"

"Phoenix, it was…" then there was a loud noise. The door that was closed was now opening. Then came Markus grinning and staring at me with evil eyes.

"Hahahahaha, look at what we have here, a bird and a light." He laughed evilly at his lame joke.

"That was the worst joke I have ever heard before." I said.

Markus walks up to me, "Shut up, you are in no position to mock at me" he punches me in the face. He kept punching me and punching me until my face was numb and burning. While he was punching me, I took out my hidden knife and started cutting my rope.

"Punch me all you want, but I don't really care if I die right here, right now."

"Oh really, how about if," he takes out a gun and loads it. He walks over to Lyte and pulls her closer, "how about if I do this." He points the gun at her face.

"What are you doing? She has nothing to do with this. Damn You" I started to squirm around, pretending to try to go for him, but actually just loosening the rope around me. "Don't you dare lay a single hand on her Markus"

"Fine,"

CLICK

He points the gun at my face "Good Bye" he says. Just when he was about to pull the trigger, Lyte yells.

"No, don't shoot him, shoot me instead"

"Ok," he turns the gun to Lyte.

"No," I yelled, just finishing cutting the ropes I dashed in front of Lyte just as Markus pulled the trigger.

KAW-POW

I fell down, gasping for air. My lungs started to hurt whenever I took a breath. Markus was shocked, he was shaking like a train and dropped the gun "I…I didn't really mean to shoot" he said then he ran off. I kept pressure to wound, on my chest.

"Phoenix, are you all right," she screamed at me. She kept on screaming, and kept trying to shake loose. After three minutes, she was able to loosen the ropes enough to get out. She ran up to me and held on to me.

"Go and get my dad" I said in a weak and raspy voice.

"But how about you? And why did you do that?"

"Don't worry about me; I've been through worse than this and besides what are friends for." The necklace fell out oh Lyte's pocket, splashing in the puddle of my blood, then sinking in to the bottom. Then my heart stopped beating.


End file.
